The Canberra Times is covering the outrage around plans to fund the private system to introduce his planned higher pay for elite teachers.
In a move which is sure to inflame already tense negotiations between the ACT Government and its public school teachers, Mr Barr has floated using a multi-million dollar pool of money from the now defunct non-government schools interest subsidy scheme to develop a ”leading teacher classification” in the non-government system.
The Australian Education Union, representing government school teachers, described the offer as a ”desperate political move”.
Mr Barr has been attempting to introduce six-figure salaries for the ACT’s most accomplished government school teachers for several years but, after seven months of enterprise bargaining negotiations, has now reached an impasse.
The union has rejected the concept, as only 10per cent of teachers would have access to the pay rise, even though more might be qualified. Instead, it is calling for the creation of a framework setting out standards which must be met to qualify – demanding that any teacher who meets those standards be rewarded with the pay rise.